Changing career

I can confidently say that one in four job seekers I talk to at the moment falls in the category of aviation as their second career. With all the hype about the pilot shortage, 2018-2019 has become ‘the time’ to transition into aviation for the first time. Seems the message, ‘we need more pilots’ has filtered through.

Traditionally, around 90 per cent of our candidates are already in the industry as airline cadets, CPL pilots and already have GA, rotary or airline careers. So at Pinstripe we are witnessing a major shift in who and how many are coming over to aviation from elsewhere.

Those career- transition candidates about to take the leap often have one question; “is this the right time, or a safe time?” To which I counter: “if you are asking me, have you really thought this through?”

Changing careers, retraining, relocating and taking a pay cut is about to interrupt your entire life and that of your family.

I decided to write about change and transition as for me, it is particularly pertinent. It’s just post the extravaganza that was my recent wedding, our transition into mid-life marriage, the second go for us both. I am chatting with one of my wedding guests, a long-term pilot friend. He likes to introduce himself as ‘the only pilot to have failed the pinstripe coaching program’; he says it with a degree of pride. He is an ‘out of the box’ guy and was not destined for the traditional pilot path. The next phase of his unconventional career is the core of our conversation.

The enormity of making drastic career changes for anyone over 35 who is already established in a career, and perhaps has a family, is a huge risk. For those of us closer to mid-life the risks are still there but perhaps we feel as if we have less to lose. Or is that just me?

Our wedding was the final phase of my mid-life transition, from being a sole trader/coach, and an amicably divorced childless city dweller, to living by the beach, inheriting three grown children and a delightful grandchild and business world domination. Taking my business on-line was tantamount to reinventing the wheel. Lump in all of those changes and wow, what a life reinvention. Becoming a pilot as a mature candidate is much the same.

Just as I was saying to my failed pilot friend, if you are not 100 pre cent committed, if you don’t have a plan, if you have not mitigated the risks, if you don’t know what you are in for, if your family are not with you 100 per cent, if the finances are not sorted, then don’t do it until you can say yes to the aforementioned.

It is not about the time being right; it is about being ready.

We have always seen people in related industries and careers transition to fixed-wing pilot roles. Think aircraft engineers and cabin crew. I also expect the ADF pilots who, refusing a desk job, will opt to transition to commercial aviation in order to continue to fly. Note to ADF pilots, ensure you look into CTAS funding, it helps with transition costs.

Those I didn’t expect have been an ex-Olympic swimmer (my code name for him was The Albatross – think wingspan), an actor, builder, schoolteacher, male model, stay-at-home mum, celebrity, finance overachiever and federal policeman. Even as someone who is continually reinventing her life, these people amaze me.

Each one has positioned themselves financially and personally to pursue aviation. Some have started to self-fund their initial flight training. That takes a huge degree of planning and dedication, two attributes highly regarded by airlines.

And yet, ab initio airline cadetships rarely seem to consider these more mature candidates as their top pick. While each candidate is assessed on merit my statistics illustrate a distinct trend towards school leavers and university graduates.

The benefits of considering the career-transition candidate seem obvious. They have illustrated their propensity to achieve training standards; their motivation is through the roof as they are willing to turn their lives upside down for this opportunity. They have well developed team and leadership skills and a depth of knowledge around business and operations only embedded by years of entrenchment. At 35 they have 30 years to offer an airline, at 40, 20+ years at the very least. In any other industry retaining staff for more than five years would be unheard of. They are a sure thing as opposed to the untested nature of potential. They have achieved a degree of success that only those tenacious resilient souls can claim. And, they bring all of this with them to a flying career. They are even committed to starting at the bottom. ‘Ego’ has to be severely in check to do that.

I urge airlines to consider the career-transition of aspiring pilots, who at 35+, are young enough to fit the airline culture and mature enough to be low risk.

Transition is a beautiful word. It is sort of like ‘I know some stuff and I am going to take that stuff and apply in an entirely different way to an entirely different project.’ Not throwing the baby out with the bathwater, but bringing that wealth of knowledge and experience across to benefit our world – the world of commercial aviation.
‘Seems the message we need more pilots has filtered through’